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It's been so nice to see flowers blooming and trees budding after a long winter. We enjoyed the crab apple tree blossoms and lilacs.

It was the perfect weekend to start this year's garden. I planted zucchini, carrots, beets, lettuce, cucumbers, green beans, peas and watermelon and tomato seedlings in the garden.

We were given two 16 oz. bags of mini sweet peppers and several containers of cherry tomatoes and kiwi. We really enjoyed having the fruit and vegetables, since they are things that I don't buy often. I mixed together chopped apples and mandarin oranges with the kiwi and made a fruit salad with honey lime sauce. It was a delicious treat!

I entered free codes on my Kellogg's Family Rewards account for 220 free points. I've been using the points to print $1.00 coupons for Mini Wheats cereal when I see a sale.

Last week I did a few price comparisons and noticed that the local health food store actually has lower prices on oats and a few foods that are recommended in The Daniel Plan. Health food stores are often thought of as being expensive, but our local store is able to buy many things in bulk and pass on the savings to its customers.

Oats were only $.70/lb. at the health food store compared to $1.28/lb. I bought both quick oats and old-fashioned oats. Quinoa was $4.62/lb. at Walmart compared to $2.99/lb. at the local health food store. I also bought buckwheat flour, which was pretty pricey at $2.10/lb., but I noticed a buckwheat pancake recipe in The Daniel Plan Cookbook that I really wanted to try. The total I spent on groceries for this week was $82.29, including what I spent at the health food store.

I was disappointed to find out that our local Walmart doesn't allow price matching anymore. I was able to price match items from the Dollar General flyer that I couldn't find in the local Dollar General store and it also saved me from making a couple of extra stops when doing the weekly shopping.

We had a few unusually warm days here this week...one day in the 90s! We were able to turn the heat off all week and save on heating oil.

A coworker and I exchanged vegetable plants....she gave me some tomato plants that she had grown, and I gave her some of the pepper plants I started in April. We won't need to buy as many tomato plants this year.

Since reading The Daniel Plan, I've been motivated to make some changes to my family's diet. I knew that it would effect our grocery budget, and that we wouldn't be able to afford to make all the changes that are recommended in the book. What we can do, though, is eat as healthy as possible within our budget.

One of the changes that I want to make to our diet is to add more fruits and vegetables and to eat a greater variety. I'm going to try to focus more on nonstarchy vegetables, low-sugar fruits and superfoods. I was able to buy a lot of produce on sale this week. I spent a total of $82.20.

Apples, broccoli and spaghetti squash are all on sale for $.99/lb. this week. A coworker shared this Lemon Chicken and Spaghetti Squash recipe with me and I'm excited to try it this week!

I had a big grocery shopping trip for this week and spent around $100. I was expecting the increase in the cost of groceries since reading The Daniel Plan and deciding that I wanted to make some changes in our diet.

I bought some different fruits and vegetables and I bought grapeseed oil and olive oil (two oils recommended in The Daniel Plan) that I found on clearance. The oils are much more expensive than the cooking oil that I had been using and I was pleasantly surprised to find them on clearance.

Apples were on sale for $.99. I bought a lot of them and have been eating one in the afternoon for a snack when I normally have a craving for something sweet.

These eggs were on clearance for just $1 each! The regular price is over $3 a dozen.

I've had some nagging health issues that seemed to get worse this past winter and I started to wonder if I could change my health by changing my diet. I started reading books and researching online, but I was discouraged with the conflicting information and the very strict diets that I found. I was very encouraged when I came across The Daniel Plan. It isa plan that is meant to help people make lasting changes and seems to be a good fit for me and my lifestyle.

The Daniel Plan takes a different approach from other books on this topic. It doesn't just focus on food, but includes four other aspects of our lives that we can change in order to live a healthier lifestyle. The five main topics are Faith, Food, Fitness, Focus and Friends.

Since I really wanted to read this book to learn more about healthy eating, I've focused mostly on the Food chapter and only skimmed through the other topics. The chapter on Food is the longest chapter in the book and is full of helpful information that is written in a way that the average person can understand. The chapter (and the whole book) is full of inspiring stores and tips that are encouraging and make a healthier lifestyle seem doable.

The Daniel Plan teaches a whole foods approach to eating with a philosophy that made me chuckle the first time I read it:

"If it was grown on a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, leave it on the shelf."

The book also includes many eye-opening facts about our modern-day health and the food we eat that were very motivating.

Consider this fact:

"Hunter-gatherer populations consumed about 22 teaspoons of sugar a year; now the average American consumes 22-30 teaspoons of sugar every single day. In 1800, the average person consumed 5 pounds per year; now we average 152 pounds a year....The average 20-ounce soda has 15 teaspoons of sugar."

I've known for a while that I need to cut back on sugar in my diet and reading this was definitely the motivation I needed!

I've also found some great recipe ideas in The Daniel Plan Cookbook. The first section of the cookbook has a lot of information including how to get started, foods to avoid, food substitutions, reading labels and much more. I liked that the authors used every day ingredients in their recipes instead of fancy ingredients that might be hard to find in my area. I think my children would even eat many of the recipes, which in my opinion is the true test of a great cookbook!

I'm planning on making changes slowly and hopefully introduce some changes to my family as well. You will probably notice some different foods and recipes in the Meal Plan Monday posts over the next few months as I experiment with new foods and recipes.

If you've read this book and followed the eating plan, I would love to hear about your experience!